Leafs Prospect Rankings - #17

Be sure to like HockeyBuzz on facebook! For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter The Toronto Maple Leafs organization has drafted and developed a number of youngsters currently playing in the NHL like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Pierre Engvall, Travis Dermott and Justin Holl, but the next step for the club under GM Kyle Dubas is to keep replenishing the prospect pool to provide the Leafs with youngsters who can step up and replace veterans who retire, depart via free agency or are traded. As we did last year, we will rank the club’s top prospects over the next few weeks based on their progress in either the NCAA, CHL, Europe, ECHL, or AHL and their potential to make the Leafs roster and make a contribution in the future. Players are eligible for the list if they have not played more than 40 NHL games: #40 – J.D. Greenway – D (Maine – NCAA) #39 – Eemeli Rasanen – D (HPK – Finland SM-Liiga) #38 – Jeremy McKenna – RW (Moncton – QMJHL) #37 – Ryan O’Connell – D (Ohio State – NCAA) #36 – Veeti Miettinen – RW (St. Cloud St. – NCAA) #35 - Semyon Kizimov – RW (Lada Togliatti – VHL / Torpedo – KHL) #34 - Kalle Loponen – D (Karpat – Finland SM-Liiga) #33 - Vladislav Kara – LW (Cherepovets Severstal – KHL) #32 - John Fusco – D (Harvard – NCAA) #31 - Wyatt Schingoethe – C (Waterloo – USHL) #30 - William Villeneuve – D (Saint John – QMJHL) #29 - Joe Miller – C (Chicago – USHL) #28 - Axel Rindell – D (Jukurit – Finland SM-Liiga) #27 - Kristians Rubins - D (Toronto - AHL / Frederikshavn - Denmark) #26 - Justin Brazeau - RW (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL) #25 – Dmitry Ovchinnikov – F (Sibir Novosibirsk – MHL/KHL) #24 – Artur Akhtyamov – G (Ak Bars Kazan – MHL/VHL/KHL) #23 – Noel Hoefenmayer – D (Ottawa – OHL / Wichita ECHL) #22 – Roni Hirvonen – C (Assat Pori – Finland SM-Liiga) #21 – Teemu Kivihalme - D (Toronto - AHL) #20 – Pontus Holmberg – LW (Vaxjo HC – SHL #19 – Filip Kral - D (HC Prerov / Kometa Brno - Czech) #18 – Ian Scott – G (Toronto - AHL) #17 - Joseph Duszak - D (Newfoundland - ECHL / Toronto - AHL) The Maple Leafs have had some success finding talent and signing free agents that went undrafted and played in Europe or the NCAA, like former Leaf Trevor Moore out of the University of Denver in 2016 or KHL products Ilya Mikheyev, Alexander Barabanov or Mikko Lehtonen. After selecting four defensemen in the 2018 Draft and dealing one of them in the trade for Jake Muzzin, Toronto added another blueline prospect by signing Joseph Duszak. After a brief stint in the USHL, Duszak played three seasons with Mercyhurst University and led the club with 47 points (16 goals and 31 assists) in 2018-19. The 5’10…, 185 lb blueliner was pursued by a number of NHL clubs before signing a two-year entry-level contract with the Leafs in mid-March.